


Titles

by BuildingGsr



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25134913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuildingGsr/pseuds/BuildingGsr
Summary: Set: right after 8x01 "Dead Doll" and after 8x02 "A la cart"The team members talk with Grissom and Sara about their just uncovered relationship
Relationships: Gil Grissom/Sara Sidle
Kudos: 11





	Titles

**Author's Note:**

> The title of the fic has nothing to do with the story itself, it just recalls the definition of the Challenge by CSIFO:  
>  _  
> Use CSI (original series) episode titles within the context of your story  
>  Any titles chosen must be used appropriately. Multiple titles may be used in a sentence or paragraph or dialogue as long as it makes sense.  
>  They cannot simply be tacked on.  
>  You can also use them as something written on a poster or a headline or the like if you so choose."  
>  _  
>  The episode titles used are in bold.  
>  I would like to thank my beta-reader Erika Nicolosi, for her amazing help and patience
> 
> First publication on [my website:](http://buildinggsr.altervista.org/) June 30, 2016  
>  Last editing: July 7, 2020

* * *

_DESERT PALM HOSPITAL._

_Sara on a bed, her left arm already put in a plaster cast. A Day Shift agent is processing her. Outside the room, Grissom and Brass are observing the scene in silence, when Brass speaks. Catherine, with Nick, Warrick and Greg, a few metres away, is waiting for the Day Shift agent to finish her job._

"Gil...listen...maybe we should talk about..." 

A sigh ended the sentence.

"About...?" Grissom asks absently, without letting his eyes parting from Sara.

"About the fact that...Sara is a  **family affair** to you," Brass answers , lowering the volume of his voice.

Grissom freezes for a moment. After few seconds he turns to Brass, lightly agitated.

"Why should we?" he asks. 

The following answer comes out Brass' mouth with more self-confidence.  "I think that in the report we'd have to write why Natalie chose Sara." He pauses for a moment. "And the reason...is you, basically," he adds.

Grissom looks surprised for Brass' being aware of it. His friend – more than his colleague - understands his surprise and explains.

"Catherine has told me that you've says something strange, while you were at the lab. She asked if I knew anything about it and I tried to –

"Something strange?" Grissom asks, taken aback. "What are you talking about?"

Grissom's question forces his friend to directly tap into his source. He calls Catherine.

She approaches the two men with the demeanor of someone who doesn't know why is being called upon, but showing a collaborative spirit.

"May you repeat what you told me?" Brass asks her. 

Catherine has a moment of hesitation, but then she speaks directly.

"Do you remember when we were at the lab and we found out about Natalie?" she asks Grissom.

"Yeah."

"Do you remember that few minutes later you left the room?"

Grissom doesn't understand the connection, but he replies anyway. "Yeah."

"Do you remember anything in the middle?" Catherine eventually unexpectedly asks.

"In the middle?" Grissom repeats, perplexed – he doesn't understand the sense of such a question, but he understands that the heart of the matter is lying there. Thus, he takes a moment to remember and then hesitantly begins. "I don't know...I remember Warrick asking what is the connection between Sara and bleach; you saying that this case is different..." 

He suddenly stops speaking, remembering the moment he understood the situation and that recollection pushes him to throw a glance towards Sara. 

"Then I had an idea and so I left the room," he concludes.

"You said it out loud," Catherine informs him.

"Excuse me?" Grissom asks confused.

"The reasoning that led you to the idea you had,” Catherine clarifies. “You said it out loud." 

Grissom still doesn't get the point.  "And...so...?" he asks, eyeing Brass, kind of looking for some help.

Catherine crosses her arms and shrugs, just before quoting Grissom's words to explain what she is talking about: " _ This girl holds me responsible for the death of Ernie Dell. I took away the only person she ever loved. _ " She makes a pause and concludes, " _ So she's going to do the same thing to me. _ "

Grissom turns to Catherine when she finishes speaking and this time his eyes looks like those of a wild animal backed in a corner. After the shock of Sara being kidnapped, Grissom thought that finding her would've brought only serenity. Here we are now, instead, with a new load on the back!

"Everyone has been pretending that nothing happened so far," Catherine continues, "but when Brass will question her, I think the thing will come out and then it will be official."

Grissom is even more confused than few seconds before and he needs a deep breath to oxygenate his brain.

"I...said it out loud....?" Grissom asks after a few moments. 

Catherine suspects he hasn't heard nothing after her quotation.

"You did," she confirms to him though, throwing a glance to Brass and then lowering her look on the tip of her shoes, feeling sorry for Grissom. 

The supervisor heavily sighs again and then goes back to the window of Sara's room door. He watches inside.

Unexpectedly Sara sees him and gives him one of the sweetest smiles he ever saw. He replies with a smile and a gentle nod of his head, and Catherine can see his eyes enlightening as she never saw them do. Notwithstanding she can clearly see that his soul is overcome.

"I guess...it had to happen, sooner or later..." Grissom murmurs, talking mostly to himself. 

Catherine feels a kind of surprise for that implicit and definitive confirmation.

"So...that's it?" she tentatively asks. "You and Sara...?"

Catherine's question lies listlessly in the air for some moments, before Grissom says anything.

"Yes," he says in a feeble voice.

In that moment he notices that the Day Shift agent is gathering the samples and he understands she has finished.

"May you give us a minute, before...?" he asks Brass. 

The police captain reasons over the answer for a few seconds, then he consents. 

Grissom walks in the room, greets the Day Shift agent and stops by the side of the bed. He then talks with Sara, pretending coolness as they are used to do in public,  checking  her health situation. The rest of the group joined Catherine and Brass – in the case there was still any need,  Catherine confirms  the relationship between the team supervisor and their colleague.

When, one minute later, the Day Shift agent leaves the room, Grissom throws a glance to his colleagues. He finds that they are distracted – probably commenting the news of Grissom and Sara's relationship – and he thinks it is the right time to talk with Sara about what Catherine has just told him.

"You thought you got rid of me, didn’t you?" Sara jokes, noticing the deeply serious air marking her mate's face. 

Grissom takes a deep breath and he can't avoid to see the abrasions on the face of the woman he loves – like he made the team understand at the lab, the only woman he ever loved.

"I'm sorry," he says. 

Sara frowns incredulous initially, but then her face relaxes in a look overloaded of compassion – in another moment, place, situation she would’ve hold his hand to make him feel better, but in that moment she limits herself just giving him a smile.

"It's not your fault," she tries to comfort him. 

He replies with a frown. He then asks: "Have you...talked with Natalie, while...?" 

The sunny smile on Sara's face vanishes,  taken away  by the darkness of the memories still vivid on her skin.

"I think,  _ talked _ is an exaggeration..." she murmurs, instinctively touching her forehead, close to the abrasion she caused herself jumping out Natalie's moving car. 

She recalls the short conversation she had with the other girl, when she found herself again inside the car, with tied hands and a disoriented and confused mind.

"Did she tell you...why she chose you?" Grissom asks, trying to be delicate. 

Sara raises her eyes up on Grissom and she hears again the noise of the car's engine and Natalie's voice. She lowers the gaze again and for a moment she get lost in that memory. Grissom has always been a good master to her and his teachings are imprinted into her brain.  _ Answer is usually in the question _ , is one of those. So she raises her gaze and this time her eyes are attentive.

"Why are you asking me about this?" she asks.

"Because I know why," Grissom answers, his face colored with some kind of shame.

Sara stares at him and she feels he's trying to tell her something she is missing.

"It's...because of me, right?" Grissom says keeping his head down.

_ Ernie loved me more than Grissom can ever love you. _

The memory of Natalie's voice this time is too intense. A violent sickness closes her stomach and  Sara holds back her breath fearing she is still out there, in the desert – fearing that her finding is just a dream, an idyllic and utopian happy ending for a tragedy still to be accomplished. She turns with a jerk, her eyes anxiously wanders; she tries to move, but a stab of pain at her plastered arm stops and awake her at the same time. She sees the hospital room again, the  drip on one arm, the other arm plastered and she understands that, no, that tragedy has not been accomplished and that the idyllic and utopian happy ending truly has happened. 

She sees Grissom's eyes again. 

She silently nods.

"Ernie loved me more than Grissom can ever love you," she repeats out loud.

Her mate piercingly smiles. Sara is a smart woman; so the supervisor leaves that short conversation bears fruits – and, consequently, that Sara understands what problem they would have to deal with in the shortly afterwards. His hopes are not disappointed.

"This will have to be written in the report, right?" Sara in fact asks all of a sudden.

Grissom doesn't reply, but his silence works as assent.

"Therefore...everybody will know..." Sara begins again, but the word  _ know  _ chokes in her throat and the nausea comes back again.

"About this," Grissom says, "there's something you should know..." 

Sara stares at him and she has the impression that he's worried.

"In my absence you sleep at Heather's place again?" the woman asks with a bit mean smile.

At the moment Grissom doesn't know whether laugh or get nervous.

"I did not  _ sleep _ at Heather's place that time."

"So they told me..." Sara comments. 

She raises an inquiring eyebrow, then, kind of asking what he has to say on his defense; but it's all a joke and she finally invites him to go on with what he was saying. Grissom feels relieved and this feeling moves a corner of his mouth upwards, in a hint of a smile. What he has to tell her, though, turns him back to seriousness.

"As regards the... _ know _ ..." he reprises, "you don't have to worry about it, because...they already know." 

He concludes the sentence a bit in a rush, as if he's tearing off a band-aid. Sara, how imaginable, is surprised.

"Did they know it already?" she informs.

"No," Grissom reassures her, "it...came out during the investigations," he vaguely says.

Sara comments with just a  _ Mh _ , adding nothing else.

"It had to happen sooner or later, I guess..." Grissom murmurs as he has done a few minutes before – this time there's a scent of hope in the voice.

"Yeah...I guess that too." Sara sighs.

After a few minutes Brass enters the room and takes her statement.

When he leaves, the members of the team come in. They stay there a few minutes, reassuring on Sara's conditions, and with a joke from everyone they try to lift her morale. 

*

_ At the end, only Greg stays keeping company to Sara, while Catherine is absent for some  _ _ bureaucratic  _ _ matter. At Catherine's return, he would leave too and the two women would wait Grissom to return with a change of clothes for Sara. _

"So you won your  **jackpot** , right?" Greg says standing at the end of the bed.

"Jackpot?" Sara asks, not sure if he's kidding her or not.

"You did survive a serial killer...!" he softly explains, adding, "It doesn't happen very often. I know that, I'm a CSI, you know?"

Sara laughs.

"Moreover," Greg continues, encouraging, "You're dating the man of your life." Sara throws him a bad glance, but he goes on, not paying attention to her, "That doesn't happen very often, too," he says, with a drop of melancholy, but also joyfulness for his friend's happiness.

Sara's embarrassed by his talking about her relationship with Grissom.

"He's not  _ the man of my life, _ " she states, trying to found her balance again. 

An impossible to contain smile betrays her though.

"We both know he is," Greg replies, uttering that sentence as an indisputable ancient and deep truth. 

Sara thinks to deny it, but she prefers not to lie to her friend and doesn't reply anything. She takes the paper glass the nurse has left on her bed table, instead, and sips a bit of liquid using the straw.

Greg starts to walk by the side of the bed, towards her.

"If all I've says above isn't enough," he reprises, as if he has clearly in mind what to say, "he loves you," he says, stopping by Sara's side. 

She suffocates a laugh. 

"Yeah, and they lived happy ever after." Sara laughs at Greg, chewing the straw.

"He made it quite clear, you know?" Greg answers back.

Sara stops sipping.

"He made clear...what?" she asks, placing the paper glass on her legs and staring at Greg with a perplexed face.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to, he probably –

"As far as I understood," Sara interrupts him, "the topic came out somehow during the investigations..." Greg nodds, but his eyes are very sure. "What did he say exactly?" Sara asks directly.

Greg smiles and he perfectly remembers what Grissom said.

"It happened when we found out about Natalie. We found out that she was at a crime scene, one of the photos showed her among the crowd, and –

"Greg," she firmly stops him. "Just tell me what he said, please," she nervously commands.

"What's going on here?" Catherine's voice asks out of the blue.

Sara e Greg turns towards the door and they find the woman at the doorway, staring at them with an pretty severe face.

"You should rest, Sara," she says, walking in. "And you should leave her rest, Greg," Catherine adds, talking to the young man.

Greg sighs and turns to Sara in an apologizing look. She reciprocates with a bit disappointed look.

"We'll talk about this another time," she tells him.

"Have some rest," he replies, before heading out.

Once left alone, the two women share a moment of embarrassment. They has never been great friends, but over the years their relationship has evolved in a mutual respect.

They don't find much to say.

"Grissom has gone to take a change of clothes for you," Catherine says all of a sudden, with the mood of, instead, being in the middle of a conversation. Sara nods with the head. "He'll be here soon," Catherine adds. A sudden thought, though, makes her add, "I think."

Sara smiles, taking that as a joke – although she can’t catch its meaning very well – but turning to Catherine, she notes a thoughtful expression on her face.

"What?" she asks her.

"You two..." Catherine begins hesitantly, but soon she stops and waits, as if she needs to pluck up courage. "You two are living together, aren’t you?" she asks with the surprised voice of who has just discovered something.

Sara stares at her for long seconds: if it was already a big shock surviving what Natalie put her through, to suddenly find herself talking about her own private and romantic life kept secret for years, was an even bigger shock, if possible. She thinks that, while she keeps being silent staring at Catherine. The question that afterwards springs in Sara's mind therefore is:  _ should I talk about this? _ Her mind automatically goes back to Grissom, as always it does when she faces a problem.

_ It has to happen sooner or later, I guess... _ he has said some moments before.

_ I might as well deal with this taking it head on,  _ s he says to herself. So, she lowers her gaze on the paper glass she's still holding.

"Yes," she eventually answers, almost feeling ashamed, although she knows there is nothing to be ashamed of – aside the fact of having kept secret their romantic relationship to people they considers the most trusted to them.

Catherine bursts out laughing and this takes Sara away from her thoughts.

"It's unbelievable!" the redhead exclaims, keeping staring at Sara. "Excuse me, but...how long this story has been going on?" she directly asks. 

Sara bites her lips.  "Didn't you say I have to rest?" she says instead of answering. 

"So...what?” Catherine continues, “Simply... **Boom** ! You got together?" Sara laughs. "And when did you find the time?! You two are two workaholic...! At least have you ever spent  **a night at the movies** ?” Catherine turns suddenly thoughtful, “I don't know why, but I have the impression that your couple lifestyle isn’t very fun..." she eventually says, talking mostly to herself.

"Do you think I like to  **play with fire** , don't you?" Sara asks. 

Catherine throws a maternal glance at Sara. 

“Each to his own,” she murmurs with an affectionate smile. Her face then, turns curious again.  "I know that either of you would never talk about your personal relationship too much," she says, "but...may I ask you one thing about it? Just one."

"It would be the seventh on this topic, actually. The eighth, if we consider the  _ what _ , too." Sara replies with irony.

"I've had only one answer, though." 

The experience of the mature woman wins on  Sara's boldness. The younger woman has to concede that Catherine is right.

"What do you want to know?" she asks therefore. 

Catherine looks satisfied and goes on.  "Where did you share your first kiss?" she directly asks. 

Sara's eyes open wide.

"Excuse me?" 

"Do you kiss, right?” Catherine doubtfully asks. “I mean...I don't know how long the two of you have been together, but by Grissom's state of mind it's clear that it's being going on for a while..."

"Yeah."

"So you've been together for a while?"

"I meant, yeah, we kiss," Sara corrected.

"Oh, good. So I was wondering where -

Her speech is abruptly interrupted by Sara clearing her throat. Catherine notes that she's watching something behind her back. Turning around she sees Grissom at the doorway.

"Hey!" she welcomes him, pretending that nothing strange is happening in the room. 

Grissom stares at the two women with the clear feeling that something strange is happening in the room.

"I didn't mean to interrupt," he instinctively says.

"You haven't interrupted anything," Catherine says to calm him down. "I think it's time for me to leave," she then announces. She stands up, grabs her jacket and her purse.  "Take care of yourself," she then greets Sara, just before heading towards the door to leave. She's almost in front of Grissom – who's still standing by the door – when Sara's voice stops her.

"Among  **wild flowers,** " the woman on the bed says. 

Catherine turns around and doesn't understand what that sentence means.

"The answer to your question," Sara explains.

A smirk makes its way on Catherine's lips, until it becomes a grin, while she turns to Grissom.

"Flower power, uh?" she says to him, with a hint of laugh.

She walks away smiling then, looking happy like a kid.

Grissom stares at Sara curiously.

“What did you two were talking about?” he asks as walking in.

“What did you exactly say to the team to make them know about us?” is Sara's reply.

***

_ LAB _

_ After closing the case of the guy on the go-kart, Nick finds Grissom and Sara in the locker room and takes occasion to invite them: that afternoon the team would go at the go-kart track.  _

_ Grissom and Sara looks perplexed – it would be their first hang out with their friends as a couple. _

"Com'on guys...it won't be like an  **evaluation day** !” Nick says, understanding their hesitation. “It's just..." he turns his glance on Sara, "just to spend some time together." Nick concludes with a friendly smile. He sees that his two friends are embarrassed, so he cuts it off. "Anyway, I've told you. If you want to spend some time with your friends, you know where to find us. And," he adds pretending to be serious, "it would be so nice if you'd like to share some rumors with us..."

As he expected, Sara throws him a bad glance. Nick smiles, noticing it.

"I know: you're thinking, **if I had a hammer** I would smash it onto your head, don’t you?" he says to her with a laughter.

"I didn't know you can read people's mind so well," she replies. "It would be really helpful with suspects..."

"Well, I just meant that friends, usually...you know...talk to each other," he continues joking.

" **Go to hell** ," Sara replies hatefully smiling.

"Oh! You mean that we're not friends anymore?!" he exclaims. " **You kill me** !"

"If you won't stop I'm going to kill you for real with my bare hands," Sara warns him.

"Oh! You're terrible! I was the one who saw you out there in the desert, you know...be more respectful!" He then addresses Grissom. "Please Grissom, tell me that you still want to be my friend."

"I'm proud to be your friend, Nick. But unfortunately I don't like tabloids. No rumors, I'm sorry," he concludes with a smile. 

The Texan shrugs and moves to leave, but Sara stops him. When he turns around, she hesitates for a moment; then, with a deep and serious, but also friendly smile she says: "Thank you." She pauses and adds, "I still haven't had the chance to –

"Anytime," Nick interrupts her. "This afternoon, 4 pm," he remembers to both of them. 

He then leaves.

***

_ Go-kart track. _

_ After riding the go-kart, Grissom e Warrick have the chance to share a moment alone. _

"So...you two did like  **snakes** ..." Warrick wonders out loud.

"Snakes?" Grissom asks.

"Snakes that move in the shadow, under our innocent eyes!" Warrick exclaims, kind of protesting. "As far as we know, you two could have been together  **forever,** " Warrick kindly points out. 

Grissom smiles openly, but a bit shyly too. He's not used to talk about his personal relationship with Sara, but Warrick is a clever guy and with him many words are not needed.

"What do you know about snakes, Warrick?" he asks him.

"Much less than  _ you _ know about snakes, that's for sure," Warrick laughs. 

Grissom agrees and they remain silent for a moment. Then Warrick speaks again.

"May I ask you when you understood that...you know...something special was in the air?"  He expects Grissom's surprised reaction – that promptly shows up – and quickly adds, "I don't want to mind your own business, but...you know, you always look like one of those  **nesting dolls** ...no one knows what's crossing your mind, or  **who are you** really...So I'm just curious to know how much did it take to you to understand that something had changed within you."

**_73 seconds_ ** _ after meeting her for the first time, _ Grissom immediately thinks. He hides the dreaming smile that he feels is enlarging on his lips by turning his head toward the sun.

"Maybe sometimes it's just a matter of  **invisible evidence,** " he says after few seconds. 

Warrick pensively nodds.

"Even if we don't see something, it doesn't mean that it's not there, right?" he says. 

Grissom smiles, in appreciation.


End file.
